


Taboo: Side C

by Millixi77



Series: Yandere AU [6]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: F/F, Mild Blood, Yandere Kaede Akamatsu, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-14 04:18:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18045332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Millixi77/pseuds/Millixi77
Summary: Kaede hated it when people bothered her girlfriend. For goodness sakes, what more did they want from her? She was nice and played her cards well, so there should be no reason for them to target her girlfriend.So why in the hell was this bastard trying to make Tsumugi uncomfortable?Scratch that; Kaede didn't need the answer. All she needed to know was who he was, and his schedule. She already had a nice *surprise* to convince him to leave her girlfriend alone. She simply needed to find the right time to make sure everything fell into place...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Kaede beats him up in this chapter. It's not explicitly described, but the aftermath is clearly shown.

**CHAPTER ONE**

 

The person was limp, and the only thing that was preventing them from falling to the concrete was the tight grip Kaede had on their shirt. In one hand, Kaede held the person’s shirt, and in her other hand, she had a tight grip on the baton she’d used to beat them up.

 

She panted a little, trying to catch her breath. This attack had been premeditated, but the execution had been a little rushed. It wasn’t a complete catastrophe, but she’d needed a bit more violence than she’d anticipated to put them down completely.

 

As she got her breath back, she listened closely to the person she was holding. Light breaths indicated that they were, as planned, unconscious. Unconscious and injured a bit more than she’d intended, but still unconscious and - _unfortunately_ \- alive. It was time to drag them to the alley and leave them there.

 

As she dragged them to the alley, she looked at the small trail of blood that the person left behind.

  
Red smearing on grey in feathery little smears. The faintest whiff of iron on cement. Not completely insignificant, but enough to be mildly noticeable. And obvious trail, leading right to someone.

 

This entire experience wasn’t as overpowering as she thought it would have been.

 

Not like Kaede could properly judge something like that.

 

Her teeth were grit, her head felt like it was filled with cotton and she vaguely felt as if she was in some sort of surreal dream. Not completely debilitating, but manageable. It was probably balanced out by the adrenaline rush that had taken her over just a short while ago.

 

She exhaled a little harshly, before thinking over the entire situation.

 

She didn’t regret showing this person that she was a force to be reckoned with. The problem was that… some part of her wasn’t comfortable with this.

 

It was so… needlessly involved. Instead of being able to twist their own thoughts against them, making them do the job by themselves while she stayed some distance away and watched them end their pathetic lives, she had to personally come and show this person that they had been unfortunate enough to provoke.

 

And so, here she was.

 

Lugging an unconscious body into an alley with no remorse, grimacing under the mask she wore. She wasn’t unfit, but moving this person around took a little effort. A bit more than she currently had. She’d be a bit sore when this was done, but it wasn’t as if it wouldn’t be worth it.

 

She and Tsumugi would be alone once again.

 

This particular person had made the unfortunate choice of bothering Tsumugi. Not just trying to talk with her when she clearly had no interest in them, but continuing to badger her even after she’d made it crystal clear that she wanted nothing to do with them.

 

When Tsumugi had told her about this, she had been livid.

 

She’d gone straight to the person and had made sure to tell them exactly what she thought about them, and what they would be risking if they continued.

 

They’d laughed in her face.

 

And look who was laughing now.

 

Kaede smirked underneath the medical mask she was wearing, right as she finished dragging the idiot into the alley. She was wearing a large, slightly oversized hoodie and baggy pants. What she’d done was make herself as unrecognizable as possible, then knocked him out with an aluminum baton.

 

After that, she’d roughed him up a little, smacking him around as best as she could. She would have punched him as well, but she didn’t feel like risking the extra cleanup. Both their and her own skin could get to open in the process, and she didn’t want to have to explain that to anyone.

 

So all she’d done was smack them around with the baton enough to make sure they would be adequately bruised and had smacked them around a bit without it. And _that_ led to the blood smeared on the concrete.

 

It wasn’t much, but it was noticeable.

 

It would probably have been cleaned off in a few hours. Things were constantly covered up, and violence was no exception. Dragging the unconscious person’s body into the alley was almost a service, really.

 

She gingerly propped the person’s upper body against the alley wall. In response to her efforts, their head lolled forward, almost as if they were going to fall over. Luckily, they didn’t. And with that, Kaede patted them on the head before going out of the alley.

 

The streets were deserted. One would say that it was deliberate, with just how desolate the sidewalks and streets seemed to be. This wasn’t too far from the nicer part of town, so it was a bit understandable why. The few people who might be out on this Saturday morning would probably have seen someone getting tailed by someone in baggy, dark-colored clothing would probably want nothing to do with a situation like that.

 

Understandable, really.

 

She stuffed one hand into her pocket and kept a good grip on the baton. It was too large to fit into her pocket, but she could easily hide it on her person. For now, she felt like carrying it for a bit longer. Besides, it wasn’t like she’d be walking around with this on the streets.

 

She’d be going through some alleyways instead. Sure, she ran a considerably low chance of running into someone or actually start another conflict, but she wasn’t about to push her limited luck.

 

She could get back home easily without getting spotted, and from there, she could go back to her home, clean up and get on with her day.

 

She had a date with Tsumugi later, so it was a good thing that she’d gotten the unpleasant work done early. The mere thought of Tsumugi made her smile.

 

Her girlfriend would be safe and happy from now on, especially since that fool was taken care of. She’d make sure that Tsumugi was as safe and happy and loved as she could possibly be!

 

And woe betides the fool who tried to get in their way because Kaede wasn’t sure that she’d be as merciful as this the next time.

 

She could feel her mood start to lift as she thought over how the date would go once again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaede prepares to take Tsumugi on a movie date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catch the thinly-veiled movie reference--

**CHAPTER TWO**

 

Kaede felt as if she was on top of the world as she went to pick Tsumugi up for their date. Not only had she gotten rid of the unneeded bastard who couldn't understand the meaning of a simple two-letter word, but she'd be able to keep her girlfriend safe for the rest of the day! 

 

They'd planned to go out and see a live-action movie that had been taken inspiration from a slightly obscure manga which had had an anime adaptation a long while ago. Tsumugi had told her about it, and it had been a unanimous choice for the two of them to see the movie together. Looking up the manga synopsis, it seemed pretty good, and if the movie was faithful to the manga, things would hopefully turn out alright. 

 

A small issue about it was that as soon as the trailer had come out, it had inspired a little controversy. She hadn't followed it closely, but she could remember that it had something to do with the main character having eyes that weren't proportional to her face. Most people hadn't thought highly of that for some reason. 

 

When she'd seen the trailer, she hadn't had much of a problem. Personally, Kaede thought that particular flair had been rather cute. 

 

However, the internet, with its quick deluge of memes and critiques afterward,  hadn't fully agreed with her on that point. It wasn't like she really cared if she was being honest with herself. As long as Tsumugi was happy and safe, the internet could do whatever it wanted with the trailer. 

 

Speaking of her girlfriend, she had, in typical otaku fashion, somehow managed to dig out the manga from somewhere, and Kaede had been treated to a play-by-play text message stream for the past three weeks about all of the events that were happening in it. A text stream that seemed to have a penchant for stretching into the wee hours of the night.

 

Her girlfriend's dedication to anime and manga was something she held in high regard, but she was starting to wonder if she was getting enough sleep. It was highly possible that all of those manga speed-reads and anime binges weren't the best for good health… but as long as Tsumugi was happy, everything was good. 

 

(She certainly wasn't going to dedicate sometime later that day to try to figure out how she could get Tsumugi to spend some more time at her place so she could make sure that she was sleeping well.)

 

(Nor was she thinking of finding a subtle way to sneak into Tsumugi's room at night. She hadn't been thinking of it for a while. It definitely didn't cross her mind repeatedly at times. Not at all.)

 

Whatever the case was, it was a  _ fact _ that she was going to pick up her girlfriend and that they were going to go on an awesome date today. Nothing would get in their way or manage to spoil their enjoyment. It simply couldn't happen. 

 

But after what she'd finished taking care of this morning, Kaede wasn't completely sure about that. 

 

…maybe she should have brought the baton with her. She could handle herself just fine, but she worried about someone trying to target Tsumugi. Her girlfriend had a razor-sharp tongue and could make fantastic plans at the flip of a dime, but they both knew that anything relating to physical exertion was far from her strong suit. If someone decided to be stubborn and ignore clear rejections, things could go downhill incredibly quickly… 

 

Kaede forced herself to inhale deeply and exhale slowly. She couldn't let herself panic needlessly. An immediate threat had  _ just  _ been eliminated earlier on this same day. The thought of another one emerging on the same day, and in a public place no less, was absurd. Today both she and Tsumugi were going to relax, watch a good movie and go over to Tsumugi's house afterward and talk about how they'd enjoyed it while just generally enjoying each other's company. 

 

And nothing scary, out-of-place or threatening was going to happen to them today. They were going to have a good, calm, fulfilling and exciting day. 

 

They  _ had  _ to have one. Relentless optimism would make sure that the day knew that it had no choice in the matter. It was going to be a good day, and absolutely nothing else would be acceptable. She could compromise on many things but this definitely was not one of them. She was  _ going _ to take her girlfriend on a date, and  _ both _ of them were going to be  _ just fine _ . 

 

But how come she felt that persistent, nagging feeling gnawing at the back of her mind, trying to get her to deny the truth? Why did her heart seem to be stuttering forward at a higher pace than usual? Why was she resisting the urge to wildly scan her surroundings to make sure no one was trying anything? 

 

Everything was fine. Her behavior just didn't add up. 

 

Kaede wasn't sure what had brought upon the needless nervousness. Sure, earlier that morning had been the first time that she'd had to…  _ directly  _ issue consequences to an offender, but she'd done worse from a distance. There was little difference between the two if she really thought over it. In fact, the idiot she'd dealt with today had been far luckier than he had deserved. Almost privileged, really. 

 

People trying to approach her was fine; she was rather sociable and liked interacting with people. It was okay, and since she was decently popular at school, it made sense. It was natural that people would want to approach her in this sort of situation. Natural and expected. 

 

There were five types of people when it came to that. The first two were the ones she encountered less often. They were either naive, innocent people without an ulterior motive or sycophants-in-training who would find out very quickly that they picked a wrong target. Either way, she could deal with them easily. The sycophants just needed some light telling-off, while the earnest ones could become pleasant acquaintances. Or maybe they would end up being just one-off interactions that she didn't have to think about. 

 

Those two were child's play. 

 

The next two categories of people were even more well-defined, and they were the ones that she interacted more with. They were also the people who required a little nuance to interact with properly. 

 

They were either the people she had to cooperate with in order to maintain her social status and the people she usually drilled information from. Both roles were self-explanatory and both weren't things that she bothered thinking about very much when she wasn't actively interacting with them. She might not have been what could be considered an expert, but she'd managed to carve out her own little niche in the hierarchy. As long as she was benign most of the time and played along with a few people's assorted schemes when she had to, people usually refrained from trying to rile her up. 

 

She called it the “let the sleeping dogs lie” principle. If she didn't bother anyone, no one had the need to bother her. It had served her well for quite a while, and she wasn't considering changing it anytime soon. 

 

However, the fifth group was something she was a bit uncomfortable with. It was a small group of people that she actively tried to avoid thinking about most of the time. It consisted of people who were either too investigative or too delusional for her to handle without using less savory tactics. 

 

To put it bluntly, they didn't fit in her view of how the world should be, so she avoided thinking about them. Giving them attention usually reinforced their delusions, and she wasn't ready to create any sort of feedback loop with them. However, to avoid any unnecessary attachment or implications, she tried to cut them away as distantly as possible.

 

When they wanted to talk to her, she'd be busy. If she happened to spot them somewhere, oh look at the time, she would magically be someplace halfway across the school in no time! If they managed to make contact, she'd be as curt as possible with them, while maintaining her friendly exterior. No, she didn't have time to talk; she had class. Or an outing with a group of friends. Or piano practice. It depended on the day and what was the most plausible thing at the time. 

 

(She had a set list of excuses for things like this, and while it was long enough to not fall apart in a few days, she would start repeating things frequently after the two-week mark.)

 

(People usually caught on that they weren't welcome at that point, so she hadn't bothered to expand the list. Besides, if that hadn't given them a hint to take a hike, the next measures she'd resort to would be far more clear-cut and easy for them to understand.)

 

If that didn't work and they still tried to come closer, she started the second phase. The excuses would stop, and she would be as  _ kind  _ and blunt as possible when she told them that she didn't want anything to do with them. There had been a few rare times that it had made people completely halt in their tracks before furiously backtracking and making an awkward exit. What usually happened, however, was that they'd take a few times to fully understand what was happening. It was usually a silent realization that had them see themselves out without needless fanfare. 

 

And within them, there were two further categories. 

 

There were the smart ones, who stopped any and all attempts to get to her, and there were the stupid ones who tried to get information about her from other sources. 

 

And failed. 

 

For some reason, the people who seemed to like resorting to that the most were the ones who barely knew how this entire mini-system  _ worked _ . They practically outed themselves every single time with their out-of-place behavior, and to add a few insults to their injuries, she usually got to know about what they were trying to do  _ far _ before they'd managed to do anything at all. After that, depending on the person, she'd either leave them to waste their time or try to permanently dissuade them. 

 

Cue the art of gossip. 

 

It was simple. All she needed to do was drop a few meaningful hints in the right conversations and talk to the right people beforehand. The severity of the rumors was dependent on how intensely she needed to grill the person. Sometimes she just needed to make someone a bit more self-aware about themselves. 

 

Other times, they were bothering either her or her girlfriend, and they needed to be put down. Cue the girl who had flung herself off the roof some time ago and the boy she'd had to leave in an alley earlier that day. 

 

The girl had been… almost unnervingly bold in her approach towards Tsumugi. So bold that as soon as Kaede knew about it, she'd been struck by a wave of jealousy and rage. 

 

Who had that  _ fool _ thought she  _ was _ ? Tsumugi had made it clear that she'd  _ hated  _ that stupid bitch, and she still continued to bother her, even being brazen enough to try to get to her through Kaede herself! 

 

The sheer  _ nerve _ of that move was something that Kaede couldn't forgive. At the time, she'd wanted to give the fool a verbal lashing that would have made her head spin, but she'd held her tongue. Her odd behavior had already garnered some interest around the school, and she'd decided that it was finally time to turn that benign force into something to be reckoned with. 

 

Some intense hours of research later, she'd been able to find that this wasn't the first time that the girl had displayed such strange behavior. It had happened multiple times, in varying degrees, and it was clear that if she wasn't stopped that she was going to continue this sort of nonsense further, not just for Kaede herself and Tsumugi, but for other people too. 

 

Other people who would just want to be with their significant other in peace. Nobody deserved to have their peace needlessly disrupted by a delusional idiot like that. Kaede might not have thought very much of other people,  but she wasn't heartless enough to leave that thing roaming in the wild, ready and looking for someone's peace to disrupt. 

 

So instead of being selfish and irresponsible like that, she'd gone a step further. If there was a problem, it needed to either be fixed or eliminated. In this case, it was repeated and destructive behavior that persisted even after multiple disciplinary actions. It was quite concerning. And if discipline hadn't helped all those times before, it definitely wouldn't begin to help now. 

 

To take shamelessly steal of one of her senior's famous quotes, it was a “disruption of the natural order of things.” 

 

And anything abnormal like that usually needed to be… 

 

Eliminated. 

 

And so, with that in mind, she'd begun. 

 

A few conversations here, some shameless dropping of some very transparent hints about the information there and a little talking with a few people who would make sure that said information would spread as quickly as possible and everything was set for a fast-track route to success. 

 

Most people would think that it was absolutely ridiculous to make such a big deal out of what would be considered by most to be classic high school drama. But what you had always seemed bigger than what everyone else said it was. Others might have seen it as petty drama, but she'd considered those girls actions as a full-fledged frontal assault. It had been daring her to strike back, and she was not one to disappoint. 

 

Within days, the school's grapevine had been on fire. So much so that it was almost a miracle it hadn't imploded on itself with the how constantly the information was being rehashed. That girl had most definitely found that her life had become a living hell, and like most weak people, hadn't been able to take the consequences of her actions. 

 

Now, Kaede wasn't a sadist. She didn't explicitly delight in other people's suffering. She wasn't exactly a philanthropist, but she wasn't going to torture a person or something similar. But when she'd received news that the girl had finally gone “missing,” and the way she had attained that status, she'd been happy. 

 

_ Finally _ , she and her girlfriend could once again be alone with each other. No needless external interference. Just the two of them, their love and their plans for each other. 

 

The school had been stable for a few weeks, during which Shuuichi had apparently gotten a new friend. A bit of a strange development, seeing how much he valued his privacy, but people made allowances for things. The only notable fact was that this “friend” of his was probably being strung on for a pity friendship, right after a spectacularly harsh rejection. It was a little sad, but Kaede wouldn't deny that she was happy that neither she nor Tsumugi was having to suffer through it. 

 

Besides, Shuuichi seemed to be tolerating the person well, so to each their own.

 

Everything had been quiet and stable for a few weeks, nothing noteworthy or groundbreaking had happened for a while. Just good old-fashioned peace and quiet. 

 

Cue alley bastard. 

 

And fuck him somehow managing to bypass her attention for  _ that  _ long. She was lucky that she tracked Tsumugi's mood extensively because she knew that she wouldn't have noticed his prying otherwise. As soon as she has noticed that Tsumugi wasn't as bubbly as she usually was, alarm bells had gone off in her head. In fact, she'd almost gotten nauseous when she'd noticed. 

 

How had that happened? Had she been being a bad girlfriend recently? Were their nightly texting sessions too short? Were they not going on dates frequently enough? Were they starting to drift apart? Was she not fully caught up with all the manga and anime Tsumugi had been watching at that point? Was that why she wasn't happy with her? 

 

The worries had bombarded her mind so intensely that she'd grabbed the first chance that they'd been alone to full-out beg her girlfriend about what was wrong. 

 

When she'd found out that it was yet  _ another  _ creep pestering Tsumugi, she'd been pissed. When she realized that he'd somehow been managing to do that without being so stupid and obvious, the alarm bells had reached a volume that she hadn't known had been possible. 

 

She'd thought that she'd been protective of her girlfriend before all this had happened. Oh, how desperately naive and wrong she'd been. 

 

They'd set up a system for their text messaging habits while Kaede had been concocting a plan. They sent messages to constantly when they weren't in class that some of her acquaintances had actually felt the need to comment on it. Naturally, they didn't receive an answer. 

 

What they were doing was making sure Tsumugi spent less time in places where that creep would try to approach her and see how that guy managed to work his way all over the school like some sort of useless cockroach, it was a fucking headache finding places where Tsumugi could be safe from him. 

 

(More than once she'd felt tempted to suggest that Tsumugi just stay home while she dealt with the situation at school. But education was important and that would definitely raise questions that nobody would be keen on answering. So in spite of her instincts screaming otherwise, she worked with what little she'd been given.)

 

If she was actually working, she'd describe those tense days as working overtime. She'd been balancing her time both making sure Tsumugi was safe and trying to get information about the guy. They were two tasks that had been surprisingly hard to manage. However, in the end, she'd managed it. 

 

This particular person was able to keep his activities secret with minimal effort, seemingly without having agreements or compromising with anyone. He followed the principle of “I won't ask you about anything if you don't ask me” to a fault, and seeing how people in this school were constantly trading information, he'd been avoided as a black hole. He didn't give any information. If he didn't give any info, it was unwise to give him any. Nobody wanted or needed to be blackmailed, right? 

 

Common sense. 

 

And everyone had a source they went to for information, no matter how isolated or disinterested they seemed. So, using that logic, if they noticed him doing something and didn't say anything about it, they wouldn't go digging for information about them and they'd be safe. The less verbal the person, the more efficient their information-gathering systems tended to be and the less likely people were to actually initiate contact. Nobody wanted to risk triggering his information source because retribution would probably be some degree of over-the-top. That was how he'd slipped under the radar. 

 

But he probably hadn't expected that something like this would happen. Thanks to the barrier he'd made for himself, it was unlikely he'd know that his own information was being scouted for, and he'd probably continue his normal course as long as no overt passes were made to him. As a result, she had the element of surprise when it came to her next move. 

 

She wasn't quite ready to start a gossip war this time. Not when she didn't know his full capabilities, or how much he knew about her. 

 

Cue the baton and the bludgeoning. And the note which she'd left, cueing him into what had occurred. 

 

If she couldn't reason with him, she'd block them both into a corner. 

 

Sure, she'd attacked, but most people would think that he'd attacked first if he'd continuously gone after someone that she was exceptionally close to. Kaede knew a few people who would outright  _ say _ that he had it coming. 

 

(She herself wasn't not included among the above group of people, but she was  _ definitely _ a supporter of that viewpoint.)

 

(Emotional wounds could be just as strong, if not stronger, than physical wounds. Damn; they  _ were  _ stronger, she  _ had  _ used those against the fool who'd thrown herself off the school roof, hadn't she? Emotions were dangerous, and as soon as those were involved, things got serious.)

 

(He should have known what trouble he was courting when he started this nonsense. All she was doing was bringing it to a halt.)

 

Cue the choke point: if he wanted to bring this against her, she could bring that against him. Depending on just who he was using to get his information system, he could have a hard time getting his precious information for a while. Nobody would be willing to dig up something about one of the most popular people in school, because the potential consequences usually weren't worth the risk. 

 

And since she'd obscured her face and hair earlier, as well as snuck up on him, he wouldn't be able to say for sure who had attacked him, whether it was her or someone else. She wouldn't be betraying herself either. 

 

And the note itself? She hadn't written it. All she'd say was that she knew someone who did a good job at creating handwriting styles that were either too generic or too extravagant to be pinpointed.

 

(They'd gone for generic in this case. Generic usually worked in a lot of situations, and she'd decided that extravagant would just be needless gloating at this point.)

 

The last thing either of them would want right now would be a gossip war, so she would come out victorious in the end. She'd get him to leave Tsumugi alone, and she wouldn't completely turn the tables on him. 

 

Finding out his schedule had been a headache, and planning out and executing the attack was a process she wasn't keen on trying again any time soon. She hoped that people would just leave her and her girlfriend alone from now on… 

 

Life would be so much easier, on both ends of the equation. 

 

As she arrived in front of her girlfriend's house, she opened the messaging app on her phone and typed out a quick message and sent it. And as she did so, she felt a little burst of excitement. 

 

After it sent, Tsumugi came online for a split second before going offline again. Then she heard the familiar sound of Tsumugi running toward the door and unlocking it. 

 

And before she could blink, she was enveloped in a large hug that she eagerly reciprocated. She almost never wanted to let go; her girlfriend was so warm and soft and feeling her so close made her feel so  _ happy _ ! 

 

But alas, they had to separate so they could actually go and see the movie. Even with that knowledge, she still clung as much as she could before Tsumugi reminded her that she still needed to lock the door.

 

But that didn't mean that she couldn't talk to her girlfriend while she did that! As she and her girlfriend started to talk about the movie they'd be seeing, Kaede felt her spirits finally rise. 

 

It would all be fine. 

 

It would be just her, her girlfriend and the movie, and nothing would get in their way. 

 

She'd made sure of that. 

 

And with that thought in mind as Tsumugi finished locking the door, Kaede got an idea. 

 

She quickly tapped on Tsumugi's shoulder, and as her girlfriend turned around, kissed her full on the lips. It was a chaste kiss, and almost childish in its haste, but it made butterflies form on Kaede's chest from the simple contact. 

 

And as Tsumugi let out a happy, adorable, high-pitched squeal and moved to hug her once again, Kaede felt as if she was having the best time of her life. 

 

Absolutely  _ nothing _ would be able to top moments like these, and she would cherish them with all her heart. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pleasant aftermath.

**CHAPTER THREE**

 

The movie had been wonderful. Sure, she might not have been a film critic who could use write an in-depth, essay-length conversation over all of the specific tropes and themes in the movie, but she had liked it. The pacing was good, the story was nice, and everything resolved itself in a good way.

 

Tsumugi had absolutely _adored_ it, however, and Kaede couldn't help the joy that had settled in her chest when Tsumugi had started talking about it. She wasn't just talking about it, she was absolutely  _ gushing _ with happiness about the movie. Kaede suspected that she'd be hearing about it for the next week, and judging by how much Tsumugi loved about it, they would be having a lot of conversations about it. 

 

Not that she minded. 

 

If Tsumugi was happy, it was was a plus. If Tsumugi had recently found something that she absolutely adored, that was also a plus. Even though they were dating, Kaede felt as if she was being blessed whenever Tsumugi talked to her. And if Tsumugi happened to be happily talking to her about something that had caught her interest lately that she liked a lot? 

 

As far as Kaede was concerned, she could die and go to heaven in absolute bliss. 

 

(Only if Tsumugi came with her, of course. She wasn't going  _ anywhere _ without her sweetheart if she could help it, and that included the afterlife.)

 

(Anyone who tried to thwart  _ that  _ would probably regret exiting their mothers birth canal. She'd make sure of it if it ever happened. But for now, there were just hypothetical thoughts that she couldn't act upon just yet.)

 

The way Tsumugi's eyes shine as she talked about the movie was something that Kaede felt she would never truly be able to understand. Her bright blue eyes seemed to me a maelström of bright colors with strong emotions behind them, turning and twisting and constantly shifting in her excitement. Tsumugi was so expressive, and she didn't seem to know how beautiful she could be, and Kaede wished she could ever have the eloquence to tell her. 

 

And her eyes weren't the only expressive part of her. Her hands moved constantly, both in large, sweeping gestures and small, more deliberate ones, depending on what she was talking about. Tsumugi might not have known it, but that gesturing, in combination with her mesmerizing eyes, always left Kaede reeling. Tsumugi seemed to have the power to explain anything in the absolute best way possible, not overexplaining or underexplaining and issue, making even the longest and convoluted manga series enjoyable and comprehensible! 

 

Kaede would admit that Tsumugi's explanations had encouraged her to look into some series that she ordinarily wouldn't have known about. She might not have been full-on obsessed, but she was sure that he could give a decent amount of her classmates a run for their money when it came to keeping up with some of the latest issues and episodes. And it was all thanks to her girlfriend. 

 

She was so damn lucky that Tsumugi lived her back. 

 

She was paying such close attention to Tsumugi's analysis that when her phone beeped, Kaede actually jumped a little. They both looked to her phone, feeling a bit disoriented. 

 

It was unlikely that anyone from Kaede's normal friend circle would be calling, so it would be the informers. Now, why would they--

 

Right. 

 

She  _ had  _ left that guy in an alley, and he had probably put two and two together. She suspected that he… wouldn't really feel up to having a  _ direct confrontation _ after that morning encounter. So he'd probably be communicating through his informant. Keeping in the spirit of evasion, both of the informants would be the ones brokering the little treaty with each other since the clients wouldn't want much, if anything, to do with one another. 

 

They knew what their clients wanted, though, and that would obviously be taken into account. Kaede was the one with more social standing here since the guy had decided to take the more isolated approach when it came to adhering to standards. As a result, everything would be skewed slightly in her favor. 

 

A fair deal, as far as she was concerned. 

 

She picked up her phone and went to check her messages. 

 

_ He's agreed to the standard agreement terms. Though, you might want to keep an eye on him. He's the kind to get resentful.  _

 

Kaede arched an eyebrow. At least he'd agreed to them, really. But that last sentence was what she was looking at. 

 

He really expected her to gloat over this? To lord it over him or something? Ha had more pride than he needed if he thought she was going to bother with him behind what had just happened. The arrogance was almost insulting, but she decided to let it slide. He was nothing than a kicked dog looking resentful from the corner it had been left in. Trying to rile her up so he could do his best to find the weak points in her armor. 

 

She was wondering if all of this had just been a way for him to try and assess her, by whatever useless standards he was putting her to. How stupid. She might have acted friendly, but she wasn't an idiot. She barely suppressed an eye roll as she put her phone down.

 

Before Tsumugi had to ask, she explained. 

 

“It was about the guy who was bothering you,” she said, not bothering to conceal her irreverence for the fool. “I convinced him to back off and now he's not bothering to hide how salty he is.”

 

“Oh, really?” Tsumugi said, sounding unsurprised. “I did think that he was awfully similar to those characters who were all bark and no bite. And is he talking to you directly or?”

 

The alternative was obvious. 

 

“No, he's definitely too much of a coward to try that,” Kaede said. 

 

“So he can't even say it to you directly. That shows he's nothing but a no-good coward.”

 

“Most of them are, really. It's a bit sad when you think about it. They come with all that swagger and bravado, trying to intimidate everyone, and they're easily unmasked as people who can't distinguish their delusions from reality.”

 

“If they were protagonists, they could be tragic ones. The problem would be that any series that starred them as the protagonist would be mind-numbingly boring.”

 

“Not only that, but it would be a Direct-to-DVD movie.”

 

“With bad lip syncing and animation.”

 

“One that was probably made in the seventies, too.”

 

They burst into laughter for a bit at the thought. Kaede could almost see the faces of the people who'd made the movie, staring in shock as their abysmal movie bombed like nothing they'd ever seen before. 

 

“Thank goodness anime has standards,” Kaede managed to say after she caught her breath. 

 

“Thank goodness indeed,” Tsumugi said, adjusting her glasses. They'd gotten a little askew during their little laughter session. 

 

It was kind of cute. 

 

“Thankfully, they're easily forgotten. No series for them.”

 

“And nobody's going to have to waste their money,” Tsumugi agreed. “Really, I feel kind of happy that he's been put in his place.”

 

“Same here,” Kaede said, stretching a little. “He can't do anything and nobody would be wasting their time or money either making or watching an awful movie about him.”

 

Tsumugi giggled in response. 

 

After that, a contented silence settled between them for a few seconds. 

 

Then Tsumugi asked a question. 

 

“So… do you want to watch a little anime before bed?”

 

It was a little bit of a random topic, but it was a welcome distraction from what they'd been talking about. 

 

“I would, but we need to get enough sleep tonight, remember?”

 

“Aww,  _ please _ ?”

 

“I'm meant to be the responsible one here, remember? Those puppy dog eyes destroy my self-control easily!” It was a poor defense, and Kaede knew it. Not only that, but she'd so left a gaping weakness on display. 

 

Tsumugi also knew and tried to capitalize on it by cranking up the eyes to two hundred. “Please, Kaede? Just a  _ few  _ episodes?”

 

“How many?” Kaede asked. 

 

“Ten!”

 

“Are you sure that's going to be a good idea?”

 

“It's one of the best ideas I've ever had, and besides, I get to watch them with you! That makes it as good as watching a series! Besides, it's not even that late, you worry wart!”

 

“Well, when you put it like that, it does sound reasonable…”

 

“ _ Pretty please _ ?”

 

And Kaede's paper-thin resistance broke. “Alright, let's do it.”

 

“Yay!”

 

“But only ten episodes! We  _ do _ have school tomorrow, you know.”

 

“Fine… but we have to finish the series within the week!”

 

“That's fine! There shouldn't be that much homework, so it's definitely possible… but we're not doing it all at once!”

 

“Aww, why?”

 

“Because you need to sleep better! Late-night anime binges might be nice, but I'm worried about you! Maybe try sleeping like a normal person like a week?” Kaede joked. 

 

“Hmm,” Tsumugi said thinking a little. “that sounds like the length of a standard trial run. And after I try, you try my sleep schedule for a week!”

 

“It's only fair. I'll try it, then!”

 

And Tsumugi's cheers made it worth it that Kaede would be planning to ruin her sleep schedule for a week. Love might have made people do things that they ordinarily wouldn't consider but it all seemed worth it when it came to her girlfriend. 

 

She loved her girlfriend so, so much. 

 

She was so lucky that Tsumugi lived her back. She really didn't know what she'd be doing with herself without her. It was strange, really. Some people might have called it puppy love, but… she truly felt as if she wouldn't be able to survive without her girlfriend. Whether it stemmed from her standard overprotective nature or not, she didn't know. All she knew that she just didn't want to think of a scenario in which she didn't have her girlfriend. 

 

She shook the thought off. That particular train of thought had been kind of strange. But it didn't really matter right now. What mattered was that she was getting ready to watch some anime with her girlfriend. She could think over whatever that had been later if she even remembered it after all this. 

 

She was with Tsumugi right now, and that was all that mattered. 

 

That was all that mattered. 

 

(That was all that would ever matter, as far as she was concerned. It was all that would ever truly matter to her.)


End file.
